Snippets from Hillingdon Hospital

Hillingdon Hospital Trust held its Board Meeting today.

Car parking
Some good news here! Over 120 new car parking spaces have been agreed with the local authority - the first will come into operation in the summer.

Some patients are in charge of their own medication
Hillingdon Hospital is letting some patients bring their own medicines from home and then be responsible for taking them. Patients are also encouraged to find out more about any medication prescribed. All this empowers patients to control their own lives - probably with much less risk of taking the wrong medicine too!

Financial update
The Trust is predicting a healthy surplus of £2.2m by the end of March - much the most successful hospital for miles around.

MRSA
However for MRSA infection rates the Trust is only around average for similar hospitals - which means it has too many cases, some patients die and the hospital has already failed its target for the whole current financial year.

Sadly there is no known intervention that is sure to reduce the number of MRSA infections. There is a test to identify carriers of the infection, routinely applied to patients before entering hospital for planned operations, but that takes many hours to produce a result - so it is no use for screening emergency admissions.

Joan

New Chairman for Harrow Primary Care Trust too!

Anything Hillingdon can do .......

Harrow PCT too will have a new Chairman on 1st February, but unlike Hillingdon PCT this is an internal appointment.

Dr Gillian Schiller has been a non-executive member of the Board for the past 4 years. What makes her even more of an insider though, is that after qualifying as a doctor she worked in the NHS for some time in the areas of public health and paediatrics. Nowadays she is a management consultant specialising in health policy and medico-legal matters.

In my opinion she has probably been the most incisive non-exec. on the Board and should make a good Chair(man).










James Kincaid -Vice Chairman Community Voice

Threat to Mount Vernon Minor Injuries Unit

The Mount Vernon MIU is much loved by local people - excellent service, wonderful staff and usually only a short wait too.


The number of MIU contacts is rising with the total at year end expected to be around 25,000 - over 11,00 from Hillingdon, more than 6500 from Hertfordshire and over 4000 from Harrow. So roughly half the patients live in Hillingdon but, because of NHS accounting procedures, Hillingdon PCT pays all the costs!

Unsurprisngly, cash-strapped Hillingdon PCT finds this unacceptable and is considering changing the service. Any threat to the MIU service would hurt all the patients, so Community Voice is urging both West Herts PCT and Harrow PCT to share the cost with Hillingdon PCT, to keep this service open. It makes sense too because if, instead of using the MIU, patients had to go to A&E Departments at Watford or Northwick Park, it would cost the PCTs more.

According to this week's Health Service Journal: "Under the three-tier tariff for A&E activity, a minor injury attendance is currently priced at £35, a standard attendance at £61 and a high-cost attendance at £93. Next year the tariffs rise to £55, £73 and £101 respectively".

Lets hope the three PCTs see it our way!

Joan

West Herts Update

The PCT's January Board Meeting revealed that by the end of March, at the end of its financial year, this PCT expects to overspend by between £7m and £12m above the £17.2 m deficit agreed as its target. It blames amongst other things the cost of continuing care, learning disability, hospice and palliative care.

To combat its financial problems the PCT is reducing overlong stays in hospital, surgery with limited clinical value and surgery classified as non-urgent.

The PCT hopes to get into long-term balance, free of debt, by 2008-09. This will be a tough job and patients may not like the economies that make it possible. However this PCT is certainly not alone. Its neighbours all have deficits too.

In March the PCT expects to start a three month public consultation about provision of acute hospital services. Emergency services are expected to be concentrated in two Hertfordshire hospitals, Watford General Hospital and either the QEII Hospital at Welwyn Garden City or the Lister Hospital in Stevenage.

Joan

Hillingdon Primary Care Trust News

The PCT is to have a new Chairman from 1st February, Mike Robinson, who lives in Twickenham. He has a history of Local Authority roles as Chief Executive and was Deputy Under Secretary at the Ministry of Defence in 1995. The PCT's press release notes only one role in the health field - he chaired Bristol Health Services Plan in 2004/05. To use a catch-phrase, he may have a steep learning curve ahead.

The PCT is considering outsourcing some of its backroom functions. It is acting as a pilot for the London Strategic Health Authority and the Department of Health, both of whom are helping to finance the project. Sceptics recall the disaster of outsourcing hospital cleaning. This will undoubtedly need careful monitoring.

Local GPs and Harmoni are setting up a commercial organisation to provide an Urgent Care Centre as part of Hillingdon Hospital's Accident and Emergency facilities. This is expected to open at the end of this month. Harmoni already provides most out of hours care in Hillingdon and other local Boroughs.

The PCT is still vigorously addressing its financial deficit, with predicted year end deficit currently reduced to £14.7m (down from £22m) - but the PCT remains hopeful that it will make further savings and hit its target deficit of £11m by the end of March.

Voluntary sector funding is still being reviewed. The PCT's major cuts earlier in the year have had devastating impact, but the PCT and Hillingdon Borough are still trying to find some additional funding to ease the problems.

Joan

STOP PRESS! New dates for Public Consultation about Northwood & Pinner Community Hospital

Hillingdon Primary Care Trust has change its plans for consulting the public on the future of the Northwood & Pinner Community Hospital. Start of the three month consultation has been postponed from 2nd January to 1st February 2007.

So the hospital will now NOT be open to visitors on two weekends in February (10th/11th and 24th/25th) as originally planned. These dates may be in many people's diaries - so please spread the news, to prevent wasted journeys. The PCT still intends to have open days at the hospital, but new dates have not yet been announced.

Joan

The Mount Vernon Treatment Centre is on its way!

Today was a great day for local people. The Mount Vernon Treatment Centre is no longer just a dream. There was no grass for cutting a ceremonial first turf on the site behind the Princess Christian Centre, but the important partners held a symbolic meeting to launch the building stage of the project. Both the Chairman and Chief Executive of Hillingdon Hospital were there, alongside senior representatives of the construction company, Balfour Beattie, and I was invited too, no doubt to acknowledge the keen interest of the Community Voice in this development. Photographs were taken by the local press to mark the occasion, as well as by own photographer, Donald Edwards.

This landmark development sets the scene for complete revival of Mount Vernon. When it opens next year there will be four operating theatres, day case and short stay beds for elective surgery, outpatients' and speciality clinics, including ophthalmology, audiology and cardiology.

The new facilities will be a great asset for local people and will also provide additional support for the Cancer Centre - a most welcome bonus, which will boost our case for keeping cancer services on the site long-term.

Congratulations to all the people in Hillingdon Hospital who persevered so long to make this happen!

Joan

'Turf-cutting' for MVH Treatment Centre 07.01.11

Prior to the site visit to mark the turf-cutting for the new Mount Vernon Treatment Centre, there was torrential rain in the area. There were delays on Ducks Hill at the road works where the road barriers were blown down. In Mount Vernon, at the building site for the Shakman Centre , a tree had fallen on to a van. Inspection of the break in the tree showed that it was ready to fall as the base was nearly rotten right through.

As arranged, the sun came out for the 'turf-cutting' ceremony! Community Voice was represented by our Chairman, Joan Davis. We hope to see a picture in the Gazzette and the Harrow Times, both papers have been invited to attend the 1st. February meeting.

Donald Edwards

Next Meeting of the Community Voice

Our informal meeting in January went well, with lots of input from members. Now we look forward to our next meeting when Antony Sumara, Chief Executive of Hillingdon Primary Care Trust, will be our speaker.

That meeting, on Thursday 1st February, starts 7.45pm in the Post Graduate Centre at Mount Vernon Hospital. We expect to hear about three topics.
a) Firstly of course an update on that cash-strapped PCT's financial problems - and how solving their problems will back-fire on us, the patients.
b) Secondly, news about the public consultation on Northwood & Pinner Community Hospital, which is already underway although publicity is scarce.
c)Thirdly, we hope our speaker will touch on our prime concern - the future of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre. Go to www.supportmountvernon.com for more information about our campaign.

It should be an interesting meeting! Visitors are welcome. Phone me on 01895 636095 if you have any queries.

Joan